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Stevenson puts ‘non-urgent’ surgeries on hold to accommodate third wave

April 22, 2021   ·   0 Comments

Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston is ramping down pre-scheduled surgeries to accommodate pandemic-related pressures the hospital and health care system are now facing and expected to continue to experience in the coming weeks.

The move came as a direction of Ontario Health.

The directive means the same situation will apply to hospitals across the province

Effective Monday, April 12, all pre-scheduled, non-urgent surgeries were postponed to create capacity for acute care patients as a result of Third Wave pressures.

The hospital will continue to provide all emergency services including emergency surgeries and fully supporting patients with urgent health care needs.

“This continues to be a very challenging time and there are many members of our community who are waiting for surgeries. To adequately prepare for Wave 3, we have to ensure we have the capacity to manage what we are anticipating in the coming weeks, which is a potential surge of patients in our inpatient units,” said Carrie Jeffreys, VP of Clinical Services and Chief Nursing Executive, SMH.

All patients that have pre-booked surgeries have been notified by the hospital and will be placed on a waiting list.

“We will continue to provide surgeries to those who need it the most and will look to bring back all surgical services as soon as we are able to do so safely,” said Jody Levac, president and CEO of Stevenson.

The hospital was forced to take the same steps last year during the initial wave of the pandemic.

By Brian Lockhart
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

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